Page 2 of Bonding the Band

A known fact in Clover-land, and not one I subscribed to, but I decided this wasn’t the hill to die on. I didn’t want to be subjected to a two-hour lecture on how heels made the ass look incredible. The one last week had been long enough.

Security opened a door to a room draped in velvet—what I assumed to be the meet-and-greet room, since there were men seated across a gigantic couch.

Clover’s breathing spiked, her whole body vibrating before she started pawing frantically at me. “That’s them! Oh my god! Do I look perfect? I think I’m gonna faint.”

“You always look perfect.”

“Excuse you, I had a pimple last week.”

I snorted and patted her shoulder. “It was basically invisible, practically a freckle.”

Clover was on her feet the second the burly security man gave the gaggle of women lining the hallway the go ahead. I had exactly zero desire to stand up again. My feet were still crying.

“Meadow,come on!”

“You go without me. I’ll just kill the vibe. I promise you can talk my ear off about every sordid detail later.”

She hesitated for about two seconds, which was longer than I expected, before dashing through the open door and into the space that was rapidly filling with women.

I settled comfortably against the wall, stretching my legs out to give my feet even more of a break, and scrolled through my library app in search of something to read while I waited. It wasn’t nearly as good as climbing into my nest with some tea, but it was better than being back out on the concert floor. The music had been decent, but being surrounded by the sounds of that much humanity packed into one room had also been overstimulating as hell.

The choice between a sexy billionaire pack romance and a dirty cowboy pack romance was occupying my mind when a weight dropped down next to me. Before I could even turn my head to see who it was—Clover was never that quiet when she crash-landed next to me—that absolutely sinful woodsmoke and citrus scent filled my nose. I turned slowly, taking in long, leather-clad legs, leading to a tight white T-shirt and hair like spun gold. Maybe my luck had finally turned because that was decidedly not a cleaning product sitting next to me.

Alpha.

My whole body thrummed with recognition.

“What’re you doing out here when everyone is in there, trying to meet the band?”

Fuck me, his voice was like velvet with a hint of rasp. Damn. It was the sort of voice I wouldn’t mind having growl in my ear a time or two. Did he work for the band? Or maybe the venue? I wasn’t really up on the list of jobs associated with pulling off events like these. He could be the lead singer’s ass-wiper, for all I knew. Regardless of what his job might be, he’d briefly caught my interest.

“Eh.” I shrugged. “I’m not really interested in meeting the band. I only came here so my friend wouldn’t be alone.”

He looked at me like I’d grown a second head. “You…got a VIP ticket anddon’tcare about meeting Hard Knot Life?”

“Technically, my friend got the ticket. I came along for the ride to make sure some weirdo doesn’t convince her into the back of a tour bus or something.”

He snorted. “A considerable risk.”

“Exactly. That’s why I’m here to supervise. Can’t be trusting rock stars, with a line of groupies a mile long, who are disappearing to another city every other day.”

“They’re not…No, never mind, they are.” He shifted to face me a bit more. “What’re you reading?”

I flipped my phone over to stop his snooping. He didn’t need to know my reading preferences when the smut started on page one. “Historical fiction,” I lied.

“Ooh, I read one of those.Pride and Prejudiced.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Are yousurethat was the title?”

His forehead crinkled in confusion. “I think so.”

“You’re pretty close, but the last part is justPrejudice, no D.”

“If I were a little less mature, I’d say something about giving you the D. You’re lucky I’m a paragon of maturity.”

I burst out laughing, covering my mouth with my hand. “Oh my god.”

He beamed at me and my stomach did a little flip, that woodsmoke and citrus working its way deeper into my senses.

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